The darts I am using have aluminum shafts and retractable points. Both loosen up after every throw, no matter how tight I can get them.
Read on here somewhere that o rings can help solve this problem. There is no dart shop from my house for at least 100 miles that I could find, looked on the internet there are sizes 1/4" and 2ba. Anyone know which size I need or other option to keep things tight?

yes they can help. Almost all darts nowadays use 2ba. However I recommend using nylon shafts. What darts you using?

O rings work great. I use them on my conversion points and they dont come undone. As Silver said, 2ba is the most common in use these days. They are very cheap online. They do breakdown so dont be scared to buy a few at a time.

SilverSaber wrote:

yes they can help. Almost all darts nowadays use 2ba. However I recommend using nylon shafts. What darts you using?

I guess they would be "Mutts", they are a little bit of this and that. Friend put together some parts he didnt use any more. Let me see if I can get this right. Brass barrels from a soft tip dart, points were hammers? they retract when they hit the board(bear to pull back out), aluminum and plastic(maybe nylon) shafts and a dozen assorted flights. No names on anything.
Decent set of darts on list for next weekend.

Jimbo21 wrote:

conversion points .

Sorry, I am figuring this out slowly. What is conversion point?

Retractable points???

NOOOOoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!

Buddy forget that set and buy yourself a decent set of darts and get nylon stems IMO

Go to one of of our new shop links and buy new or the sale swap thread here is my suggestion.

I get my o'rings from bunnings Hardware in an asorted box of small o'rings Hundreds CHEAP and they seem to fit better than the ones from the dart shop, they are slightly thinner and all of the ring dissapears in most of the barrels i have. Im shure you could take your dart in to your locar fixing supply or someone who specilises in o'rings and try a few sizes.
Tend to agree with JD. Retractable points were more made for the older wire boards were bounce ot is more commen. But hey if they are workin for ya then well

I have two sets of retractable point stuff and in my opinion are only worth while if you are a bar hustler playing on alot of nasty stapled boards.

Out of the retractable points, hammer heads are garbage. Black widows atleas have the redeeming quality that the entire dart spins on the point making flight on point deflections non existant.

Either way though, I use o rings for my magnesium slick stick shafts. The are amazing! Using them has completely eliminated the tendency of shafts unscrewing, wobbling etc. I always was skeptical but highly recommend them, two thumbs up...

What weight darts do you use shrek? Pure Darts have got some cheap Ronnie Baxter barrels at the moment - approx $9 a set - if you use light darts. Add a set of conversion points at around $2, a couple of sets of nylon stems and flights at around another $4 and you are good to go for approximately $15 plus postage (approx another $5).

Barrels - towards the end of this page - [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Conversion points - end of this page - [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Nylon stems - this page, I would suggest a couple of sets of medium length - [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Flights - I would suggest standard shape - any of these (page 2 has some nice new ones - [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

O rings - for the conversion points (you won't need them for the stems) - [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]


On the O rings, there is a set on the same page as the conversion points which includes an applicator. The applicator does make it a lot easier to get the O rings on the conversion points, but it's not really necessary as you should be able to find something else around the house to use.

On the conversion points, any of them should be ok, but don't go for the Target Diamond ones at the bottom of the page - they are board wreckers lol.

This should get you started for now until you work out which weight and shape darts to use. Get some soft tip conversion points and you can also use the above for soft tip games which are big in the US.

Hope this helps.

They weigh 18/19 grams. I knew they werent the best but something to start out on. Been shopping around and brings up some questions.

I see the majority of the darts do not have screw in points, is that just a preference thing or is there a good reason for this.

Has anyone ordered from a country that you do not live in? How much does the government think they need. Customs/taxes ect.

yeah I have ordered from U.S. Germany and Holland and New Zealand.

Import tax can be a killer sometimes, but then the Royal Mail also charge £8 handling fee

You're in the states Shrek?

I order from A180.co.uk all the time.

Pure Darts as well.

Shipping is cheap and you get your stuff fairly quick.

Plus a lot of guys here have stuff very cheap to offer.

If I was you and just getting into darts, I might see what some of our members have 1st.

Can't go wrong there.

Let us know what we can do to help you get a nice set up.

We're here to help man. Don't hesitate to ask us questions.

Cheers.

I was looking at a thread, someone said to use an o ring to help with the finger position on the shaft, I could`nt find it again.( only to say thanks for the idea) I took the idea a little further. I tried with 4 o rings at the last 4 groves on my Whitlocks. The grip is fantastic. Cold hands and all. I dont think they will last too long, just nice to have a super grip . I have all 3 darts the same.

Okay, I've been wondering about this for a while. Whenever anyone complains about needing o-rings to stop the stems from coming unscrewed, the normal response is: "get yourself some nylon stems!"

Well I've been using nylon stems for a year now, both Deflectagrip and Target Laro, and those things come unscrewed all the time, usually within a few turns! This happens so often that tightening the stems has just become part of my pre-throw routine and I do it unconsciously now.

So I was just curious... what am I doing wrong here? Am I the only one who has this issue with nylon stems?

i use harrows supergrips and one might come loose every week or so, have had issues with some cheaper ones, cant remember if i had the problem with the laros though

I dont think you do John as I experience it too, but not a great deal, they only thing I can think that cause it is when the darts make contact and the flight causes the stem to unscrew, if you get what I mean?

It could also be the way you take the dart back out of the board adding to it.

i use both...o rings with my nylon shafts and i really have no problem

Common Grip...sell that guy a set of darts...lol

Not sure I can bring myself to do it, it takes a lot of mental effort.

JohnK wrote:

Okay, I've been wondering about this for a while. Whenever anyone complains about needing o-rings to stop the stems from coming unscrewed, the normal response is: "get yourself some nylon stems!"

Well I've been using nylon stems for a year now, both Deflectagrip and Target Laro, and those things come unscrewed all the time, usually within a few turns! This happens so often that tightening the stems has just become part of my pre-throw routine and I do it unconsciously now.

So I was just curious... what am I doing wrong here? Am I the only one who has this issue with nylon stems?

No, I use Unicorn short XL's, and they too come loose very quickly.
No problem if you know this can happen, I just tighten them while my opponent is throwing.

Metal upon metal....comes loose often. Nylon or plastic upon metal...comes loose less often.

Sure o-rings work. But there is something much cheaper and better: Plumber's Thread Tape (aka teflon tape)

You can buy a roll of it at any hardware store or store that sells plumbing supplies. A roll costs about $1 and lasts probably longer than you'll be playing darts.

The tape is not sticky. Easy to apply. Easy to remove. It leaves no residue.

aye the teflon tape is a good option. and a roll will last you a lifetime.


or just switch to nylon shafts

wow...johnK youre in fort collins? hi neighbour

Indeed I am in Fort Collins... beautiful town!
Where are you?

fort collins

Nice! You play in any of the steel tip leagues here or in Denver? If so, then maybe we've met. I played in the NCDA through this last season. Mainly playing LOD's and tourneys down in Denver now.

used to play NCDA, threw with the guys out of swingstation. work changes and a personal dislike for the game format meant i stopped playing that league. that plus an increase in travel for soft tip tournaments meant it had to take a backburner for now. i still throw steel and hit the tournaments every now and then so im sure ill run into you